April 03, 2008

West Coast dating versus East Coast dating

If you're a single man on the West Coast, or a single woman on the East Coast, you've perhaps seen this map and felt concern:

But Matt Yglesias, who I'm linking a lot today, points out that if you're reading this blog you probably needn't be as concerned as you think:

...dating in the real world tends to be pretty circumscribed by
socioeconomic characteristics. Insofar as a large number of men from
Mexico may have migrated to Southern California to work in construction
while leaving their wives behind in the old country, a young Smith grad
isn't all that likely to start up a relationship with them if she moves
to San Diego. Miami's excess of single women may be driven by widows,
since women tend to live longer than men, and in some cities the gender
balance is going to be skewed by the heavy incarceration rates of
underclass men. None of this, however, has much of anything to do with
the dating prospects of ... "creative class" professionals.